Cornell Soccer 2025

[chimpfood]

Schedule just dropped and there's some good games on there including a west coast trip, but there's also a treat for those of us in Ithaca with us hosting three very good teams in Western Michigan, Akron and Syracuse.

https://cornellbigred.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025

Looking at the roster, Ryan Friedberg and Andrew Johnson are listed despite both of them being in the MLS super draft (and Johnson actually being selected). It's a huge boost to the potential of this team to keep those two.

Losing Harris is big and it will be hard to compensate for all of the scoring that he did for us. Harris has mostly been playing for the Rapids II squad and with his style of game I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he never manages to lock down a spot in the MLS.

I think the bigger piece that we lost is actually Alioune Ka. Ka fit coach Smith's formation and style of play so well with his work rate, scoring touch and size and I'm not sure we have anyone else that can play the winger in our 4-4-2 nearly as well.

Overall I am very confident in our defense with Friedberg, Johnson, Melly and Martin being some of the best players on the team. Our midfield should also be solid with tons of depth and plenty of experience. Up top is where we will be challenged. We're left with pretty much nobody with legit experience up top. A bunch of our recruits are listed as forwards but I have no clue about the talent of any of them, hopefully one will be able to step into a starting role.

I think fair expectations for this team are to finish in the top half of the Ivy League. I wouldn't expect us to make the NCAA tourney without winning the Ivy tourney but I sure hope I'm wrong. Those bad weather NCAA tournament games at Berman are some of my best Cornell sports memories. Looking forward to a fun season starting August 23 with an exhibition against Cortland!

[chimpfood]

Ranked #22 preseason. Feels generous but nice to see national recognition. It is truly remarkable what coach Smith has done for this program, hope we're able to hang on to him.

[chimpfood]

First game at Lemoyne 4pm. Excited to see who slots in up top for us and how the offense looks. Midfield and defense should be more than solid.

[scoop85]

Dominating 3-0 win over an overmatched opponent.

[chimpfood]

Dominating 3-0 win over an overmatched opponent.

Looked great on set pieces, still not sold on our forwards considering all goals came from defenders but we looked good overall. West coast trip up next against two tough teams.

[chimpfood]

West coast game against UCSB today, for anyone up for a late night

[jtwcornell91]

West coast game against UCSB today, for anyone up for a late night

It's a showdown of my two almae matres!  (Or should that be almarum matrum since it's genitive?)

[chimpfood]

0-0 at half, our guy got sandwiched in the box last play but no call. Tremendous broadcast by UCSB, really well done.

[tretiak]

West coast game against UCSB today, for anyone up for a late night

It's a showdown of my two almae matres!  (Or should that be almarum matrum since it's genitive?)

That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said about UCSB's graduate schools. Beat the tortilla tossers.

[chimpfood]

Wow 89th minute winner by Liam May, great win. Anything we get against UCI is gravy now.

[Trotsky]

West coast game against UCSB today, for anyone up for a late night

It's a showdown of my two almae matres!  (Or should that be almarum matrum since it's genitive?)

De matribus almus.  Prepositional phrase.  The possessive is kinda "hidden" in the idiom.

Tough one, though.  Had to think about it.  "Of" is oversubscribed in English.

Note: we won 1-0.

[chimpfood]

Ugh can't find a stream for this game, annoying

[scoop85]

Just seeing we lost 1-0 on a goal against in the 71st minute. Outshot UCI 12-6, but it seems we haven't found the guy(s) to replace Harris or Ka as of yet. Lots of time to figure out who steps up.

[chimpfood]

Big 3-0 bounce back win over western Michigan. Looked really good today.

[Trotsky]

What is the soccer post season like?  Is there a conference tournament?  Is there an Ivy auto bid to the NC$$?

LMGTFM (AI so assume it is all wrong):

The Ivy League holds a four-team conference tournament.  The winner receives the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The NCAA tournament involves single-elimination rounds played at campus sites, with the winners advancing to the "College Cup," a predetermined neutral site for the semifinals and championship. The Division I tournament features 64 teams, with the top 16 seeded and receiving a bye in the first round.

Last year:

Three Ivies will continue on to the 2024 Men's Soccer College Cup as Cornell, Penn, and Princeton all earned berths to the NCAA Tournament.

Penn earned the number six overall seed in the College Cup as the Quakers finished the regular season with a 14-3-1 overall record and ranked seventh in the RPI metrics. Penn recorded a variety of notable non-conference wins throughout the season with victories over Pittsburgh, Hofstra, and Fordham. With the seeding, the Quakers earned a first-round bye and will take on the winner of UMass and Evansville.

Princeton, who earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, didn't have to stress throughout the selection show as the Tigers took down Penn, 3-1, in last weekend's conference tournament championship game. The Tigers (12-6, 5-2 Ivy) enter the tournament having won three of their last four games and will take on Akron in the first round.

Cornell received an at-large selection into the NCAA Tournament after a terrific regular season that saw the Big Red finish 12-3-2 overall and 5-2 in Ivy League play.   Cornell is led by Co-Offensive Player of the Year Alex Harris who ranks second in the nation in goals per game. Cornell will take on Fordham in the opening round.

Most recent 2025 poll.

Code Select Expand


[b]Rk  School Prv  Points W-L-T[/b]
 1. Indiana        4 197 5-0-1
 2. Clemson        3 192 3-0-1
 3. Akron         11 180 4-0-1
 4. Wake Forest    6 178 3-0-1
 5. NC State       5 167 3-0-1
 6. Louisville    RV 162 4-0-0
 7. Gardner-Webb  13 152 5-0-0
 8. Stanford       1 143 4-1-0
 9. Portland      24 135 5-0-0
10. Marshall       2 128 1-0-2
11. Greensboro    12 126 4-0-1
12. High Point    15 112 3-0-1
13. Vermont        9 103 3-0-2
14. Virginia Tech  8 97 2-0-2
15. West Virginia  6 88 3-1-1
16. Utah Valley   18 80 5-0-0
17. Bryant        NR 64 4-0-1
18. Kentucky      17 54 2-0-1
19. Duke          14 35 2-0-2
20. San Francisco NR 34 4-1-0
21. UNC          RV 25 3-1-1
22. Cal-Irvine    RV 24 4-0-1
[color=#b31313]23. Cornell       NR 23 2-1-0[/color]
24. Saint Louis   16 19 3-1-1
25. San Diego     NR 15 3-1-1


That Akron home game on October 7 could make this a special season.